ALLOTMENT WIVES (1945), a provocative and tremendously fascinating example of poverty row noir emerges on TCM early Friday morning, September 26. Produced as part of a three picture deal between star / producer Kay Francis and Monogram Pictures, this peculiar trilogy served as Miss Francis' Hollywood swan song. The other two films, DIVORCE (1945) and WIFE WANTED (1946) are both well-produced, better than average melodramas, but nowhere near as ambitious or entertaining as ALLOTMENT WIVES.
What this film might lack in customary Hollywood sophistication it more than makes up for in gnarly pulp energy. Francis plays Sheila Seymour, a sleek and stylish society gal who in reality is the head of a noxious crime syndicate that preys mercilessly on returning World War II servicemen. They zero in on impressionable and lonely vets and before long they're engaged to one of Sheila's "girls." After pocketing the GI's allotment pay, the gals are soon on their way to their next mark, leaving a trail of devastated saps strewn along the post-war landscape. Things become emotionally complicated when Sheila's beautiful young daughter Corrine (Teala Loring) arrives home from her swanky boarding school (she's been oblivious to Mom's business dealings) and slowly begins to unravel the sordid details of her mother's dreadful criminal activities. Also in the cast are the wonderfully creepy Otto Kruger as Francis' odious partner in crime, the equally creepy Paul Kelly as a military investigator and the always menacing Gertrude Michael as one of Francis' old racket rivals who's out for a little revenge.
In many ways this film bears more than a passing resemblance to the much tonier and more famous MILDRED PIERCE, released by Warner Bros the same year. But ALLOTMENT WIVES gets the nasty tone of noir's tawdrier aspects better than Michael Curtiz' glossy soap opera. In fact, the crucial showdown scene between mother and daughter at the climax of ALLOTMENT WIVES plays out much more dramatically and, more importantly, realistically than the overwrought scenes between Joan Crawford and Ann Blyth.
I had the pleasure and privilege of reviving this film theatrically in San Francisco and Los Angeles in the late 1990s and the response in both cities was incredibly enthusiastic. For those who enjoy their film noir a bit on the exotic side, ALLOTMENT WIVES is must viewing, especially for those with a predisposition for down and dirty, unpretentious poverty row entertainment.
ALLOTMENT WIVES on TCM Sept 26
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Mr. Arkadin
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Hi Ark! I'm not sure but it might have been DIVORCE which is part of the Monogram Trilogy (although none of these films relate to one another with respect to theme and character). All three of these will be airing this month; DIVORCE has already played but I forgot to make mention of it. No matter: ALLOTMENT WIVES is the jewel in that crown. I hope some folks who've never had an opportunity to see truly top-notch B films will catch this one, from a studio (Monogram) that made nothing but B films! The only non-Monogram Kay Francis film I might have mentioned was CONFESSION, Joe May's visually dynamic 1937 film. It's playing later this month and it's really great.
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moira finnie
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Dewster,
Divorce (1945) was part of the Monogram trilogy Kay did at the end of her career. I thought it was very well acted, especially by Kay Francis, whose character had an interesting duality to her and, as an intelligent woman with many divorces behind her, quite close to Kay's own life. Even the often truculent or stolid Bruce Cabot managed to be a bit more expressive than usual.
Confession (1937) on 9/25 is a wonderfully entertaining, if woozy yet compelling trip to glamourville--with a touch of genuine feeling at its dark core, with flashbacks, secret lives and urges in most of the characters, as any good proto-noir ought to have--but check your sense of realism at the door if you're going to enjoy this movie. There's a fine villainous turn by Basil Rathbone in the this one, and you'll have to look twice to spot Miss Francis.
I'm looking forward to the much touted Allotment Wives on the morning of 9/26. Hope it's good.
Divorce (1945) was part of the Monogram trilogy Kay did at the end of her career. I thought it was very well acted, especially by Kay Francis, whose character had an interesting duality to her and, as an intelligent woman with many divorces behind her, quite close to Kay's own life. Even the often truculent or stolid Bruce Cabot managed to be a bit more expressive than usual.
Confession (1937) on 9/25 is a wonderfully entertaining, if woozy yet compelling trip to glamourville--with a touch of genuine feeling at its dark core, with flashbacks, secret lives and urges in most of the characters, as any good proto-noir ought to have--but check your sense of realism at the door if you're going to enjoy this movie. There's a fine villainous turn by Basil Rathbone in the this one, and you'll have to look twice to spot Miss Francis.
I'm looking forward to the much touted Allotment Wives on the morning of 9/26. Hope it's good.